


of white wicker baskets and egg hunts

by bookishgypsy



Category: Dynasty (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23601637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookishgypsy/pseuds/bookishgypsy
Summary: Liam decides it's a good idea to set up an egg hunt for Fallon on Easter morning.
Relationships: Fallon Carrington/Liam Ridley
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	of white wicker baskets and egg hunts

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Easter to those who celebrate!
> 
> A special shoutout to my muse, Ghostface, for getting me through this fic.

Someone’s watching her.

It’s the first thing she can sense when she starts to come to consciousness, before her eyes even have the strength to open themselves and see the light shining through her windows. She knows it’s him, it wouldn’t be anyone else truthfully but there’s just something about the way his head is resting on his perched elbow against his pillow, staring adoringly and amusingly into her slowly opening eyes that brings a smile to her face. 

“Good morning, Fal.”

She leans in towards the sound of his voice, pushing her body towards his and letting her head fall against his chest as his arm weaves around her. She feels him instantly start circling his thumb against the small of her back, his hand slipping under the base of her shirt to press his fingers against the bare of her pale skin. 

“What’s got you in such a good mood?”

“It’s our first Easter together,” he replies as the weight of his head falls against hers, his cheek rubbing softly against her hair. “And, I think the Easter bunny made a special stop last night.”

Fallon tries to wipe away the lingering sleep still floating in her eyes with her left hand, her right hand searching for his against their sheets. She tangles them together loosely when she finds it. “What? You’re joking.”

“It _is_ his job to stop at every home and deliver a basket to everyone, Fal,” he says. “You’re not excluded from that.”

“Liam,” she starts slowly in a low voice, like she’s about to deliver bad news. “I’m not sure if Laura ever got around to telling you, but the Easter bunny doesn’t actually exist.”

He squeezes his hand against her side playfully, making her squirm at his touch that causes a slight tickle against her skin. “Was that supposed to hurt?”

Her eyes drift over towards the nightstand on her side, a beautiful white, weaved wooden basket set upon it and at least a dozen crimson red roses set inside. There’s a pink stuffed bunny poking its eyes over the ledge of the basket, which was filled to the brim with all her favorite chocolates. The bunny’s holding a card that says ‘ _You make me so hoppy,’_ which she makes note to kill him for later. And then, there’s a single plastic, baby blue egg set atop the overflowing pile of chocolates, a small string taped to the side that simply said: _open me._

She pushes her weight up to reach for the pale blue egg. “What the hell is this? Alice in Wonderland?”

“It’s _clever,_ ” he mutters as she falls back into his waiting arms. “And romantic!”

“If you say so,” she shrugs his warm body.

“Just open the egg.”

“There better be diamonds in this damned thing,” she huffs. Fallon opens the small object in question with a satisfying pop, releasing its contents out into the open against their sheets. A single quarter falls against the fabric, along with two mini Reese’s peanut butter cups. 

Fallon looks up at him, eyes showing she’s not nearly as amused as he is with himself. “A quarter?”

“Don’t spend it all in once place, babe.”

“I’m confused.” She pushes her body up to sit upright against her bed. She holds the quarter in the palm of her hand, staring at is puzzlingly, trying to piece together exactly what game Liam was trying to play today. She looks up at him, he’s watching her with bright eyes, awaiting her response. “Is this a joke?”

“A man can’t buy his fiancé an Easter present?” He’s so flirty with his tone, leaning forward to press his lips against hers in a soft kiss.

She can’t help but grin when she pulls away from him, forehead leaning against his. “Sure he can, if it’s worth more than twenty five cents.”

“And did you get me anything?”

She pulls away from him, her grin falling flat because _shit,_ she didn’t get him anything. But, to be fair, she thought Easter presents were for kids maybe twelve and under and the thought of buying him something for this particular holiday hadn’t even crossed her mind. “We’re talking about you right now.”

Plus, they were busy planning a wedding anyways; she had more important things to think about than buying Liam some solid chocolate bunny that he didn’t need anyways. 

“I guess that means you don’t want to know about the other presents I got you.”

Her eyes widen at his mention of more - she couldn’t deny the fact that she loved being showered with gifts, especially from Liam. “Other presents?”

“Not so fast, Fal.” Liam grabs on to her hand, covering hers with his larger one. “You have to work for them.”

She looks at him, suspicious, questioning. “What do you mean _work_ for them?”

“I’ve set up a small Easter egg hunt for you,” he says, the most beaming and proud look in his eyes as he tells her. “The rest of your presents are hidden inside.”

“Alright, I thought the basket was a little much, but it was thoughtful and it was cute of you to think of our first Easter together and get me a little something, I’ll give you that,” she says. “But there’s not a chance in hell that I’m searching my bedroom in an Easter egg hunt.”

“Then I supposed you will stick with the quarter and two pieces of candy and I will take the other presents back to the store.” She can’t tell if he’s joking or not, not with his straightforward tone and blank face. He just looks at her, waiting for her to make a decision. “The decision is yours.”

“God dammit,” she huffs in annoyance, swinging her legs over the edge of her bed to stand up on her feet. “If I knew things were going to be this ridiculous all the time I would have never dated a writer.”

“Oh, please,” Liam scoffs, amusing eyes following her as she stands and scans the room with her own eyes quickly. “You love it.” 

She furrows her brows. “Do I?”

“Yes,” he counters. “You know you do.”

“Well,” she ponders. Fallon crosses her arms across her chest as she watches him stay comfortable in their bed. “Maybe I don’t _hate_ it.”

“Alright, the first egg is super easy to find.”

“Okay, so tell me. Where is it?”

“That’s not the point of an egg hunt, Fallon.”

“The point of an Easter egg hunt is the content inside the eggs which you should just give to me without making me go on a scavenger hunt like a six year old.”

“Can you just humor me for like…ten minutes?” Liam looks at her with that sweet, doe-eyed look twinkling in his eyes, the one that usually allowed him to get his way in whatever he asked of her. Sue her, she was weak. “Five minutes?”

“Fine.” Fallon turns her body around to her shelves, decorated with books and photos and tiny fake plants that she didn’t have to bother taking care of and that’s when she sees a pink plastic egg right before her eyes. “Oh. That was easy.”

“See? I told you.”

She pulls it off the third shelf, the egg heavier than she expected it to be, and bigger, too. At least three times the size of the smaller one that’d been in her white basket that set her off on this hunt in the first place. She twists the top off, unclasping the lock that kept two halves together and it opens up, revealing a crystalized bottle of Bottega Veneta Knot, one of her all time favorite perfumes from Italy.

It’s the one Alexis had gotten for her when they went on their first Carrington family trip to Rome - her, Alexis, Blake and Steven when she was only nine years old. They’d spent the day at the Trevi Fountain, eating gelato, and shopping at all the touristy shops on the main strip like she’d always watched families in movies do. It was one of the best memories she had of her and her family, until she woke up the next morning to find that Alexis had left back to America without them.

She still hung on to that memory as one of her favorites though, embedded deep within her mind with all the smiles and laughs they’d all shared that day, even if it did end up in complete heartbreak.

She looks up from the elegant bottle, tears threatening to fall and clouding her vision. “Perfume?”

“I was told it was one of your favorites.”

“It is, yeah,” she smiles through her hazy vision, blinking back the salty water that wants to fall but she won’t dare let it ruin such a nice moment. And besides, she’s ready to associate this perfume with new memories though, of memories like this one with Liam and a love she knows will never die. “Thank you.”

She’s overwhelmed in the moment, though, forgetting briefly about the other eggs she needs to go find as she finds herself back on the bed next to him, pressing her lips against his as their mouths move together easily and with a gentle amount of pressure. He pulls back from her and tucks a stray strand of her soft brown hair behind her ear, stroking her cheek with his thumb as his eyes bore right into hers. It’s the type of affection that used to scare her, downright _terrify_ her and force her to push everyone close to her away out of fear of getting hurt. But it’s different with Liam, it makes her want to open up further and let herself fall even further in love with him. 

“There’s still four more eggs for you to find,” he says softly.

“Okay.”

Her feet find the floor again, heading to the next obvious spot she could think of, because surely Liam wouldn’t make this too difficult for her, right? It doesn’t jump out at her at first, but that’s when she sees the plastic yellow egg blending in almost perfectly with the yellow tulips she had set up on the mantle, right above the slow burning flame. 

She looks over her shoulder at him, “You think you’re so clever.”

“I can’t make it _that_ challenging, babe,” he says. “I’d never hear the end of it.”

“That’s probably true,” she says popping open her next culprit. She’s not sure what she expected to see sitting inside, but it’s certainly the last thing she expected to see sitting in there. It’s a tiny gondola souvenir, the kind that you see in tourist shops when you’re in Venice, in and out of all those tiny canals. “A gondola?”

He feigns hurt, she knows him well enough to know the expression he tries to throw her is anything but legitimate. “You don’t like it?”

“I didn’t say that,” she responds. “I’m just…confused. And a little suspicious that this is probably a hint to what’s coming in future eggs.”

“No, I just thought it was cute and that you would have liked it.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure I buy that, but alright if that’s how you wanna play this game.”

“Well, there’s only one way to prove that.”

She moves towards the small table near her windows, looking on all the seats and even in the small vase of flowers that she kept there, but she falls short and comes up with nothing. She moves towards the windows next, checking the sills and even shaking against the curtains that fall straight down to her hardwood floors, but she finds herself coming up empty handed in both those locations.

“And to think you thought this wasn’t gonna be fun.”

“Shut up, Liam.”

She moves over towards her sofa, looking behind each of the pillows to find both locations bare, her hand slipping in between each of the cushions and pulling out a pastel green egg in her attempts. It’s more coins when she pops the toy open, more quarters for her to spend on absolutely _nothing_. But that’s when she takes one last look at them because they’re not quarters at all. 

They’re _euros._

“I’m not sure if you’re aware but, I can’t use these in America.”

“You can’t? Well, that’s a shame.” He only stares at her with a blank expression as she does her best to read his eyes and see if she can figure out his angle with this whole egg hunt he set up. Because so far, all she’s got was a nice bottle of perfume (the only gift she could actually use), a small gondola souvenir and _euros._ Which weren’t even a legal form of currency in this country. “You could always exchange them for American currency if you wanted.”

“And buy what? A piece of gum?” She takes the small boat in her hands, along with the few coins from the latest egg and drops them on their bed beside him. “Sounds like a lot of work for a _present._ ”

“Well, if it’s too much work for you, you could always just stop,” he shrugs. “It is just a kids game after all, right?”

“But,” she stops after the single syllable.

He looks at her, waiting for her to continue, but she stays silent. “But…what?”

“But I think you’re up to something and I need to prove you wrong.”

“Up to what?” Liam’s laugh rings through the room, holding his hands up at her accusation. “I’m not up to anything.”

“Mhm, I’m sure you’re not,” she replies, blue eyes rolling back and her arms crossing against her chest as he just _sits_ there on her bed looking as comfortable as ever. “Just like I’m sure the next egg I open won’t have tickets to Italy in it or something.”

“Oh, so you’re not giving up?” There’s this inquisitive look painted on his face and she’d like nothing more than to rip open those last two eggs and find exactly what she thinks she will. “Well, you’ll have to find it to find out. I’m not telling you where it is if that’s what you’re waiting for.”

“I swear to god if you pull this shit against next year, I’m divorcing you.”

“But, you’d still marry me is what you’re saying.”

She doesn’t even entertain his comment, she’s already been searching for eggs and finding stupid presents for the last fifteen minutes. And as much as she thinks he’s got something bigger up his sleeve and that these are all ridiculous hints, she’s kind of over it. And if her pride wasn’t so big she’d have given up already. But there wasn’t a chance in hell she was letting Liam come out of this with a win. 

So, she starts looking elsewhere. 

She checks the pillows on the ottoman at the foot of her bed and finds nothing before moving towards her bookshelf again to make sure he didn’t have any of the things hidden on a different shelf - he didn’t. Of course he didn’t, god forbid he made this _simple_ for her. 

“Where the hell is this stupid thing? I’ve looked _everywhere_.”

“You’ve looked in two more places,” he says with a slight laugh escaping the side of his mouth. “I’d hardly describe that as everywhere.”

“Well, I’m bored, Liam.” She knows the whiny voice that she lets slip out is anything but mature, albeit a little childish, but this egg hunt was _ridiculous_ and if he was trying to one up on her and surprise her, he failed because his angle was entirely way too obvious. “This is exhausting.”

“Maybe you should try looking _inside_ something.”

“Wow,” she says, tone laced with sarcasm. It’s enough of a hint for her to move towards one of her nightstands and open it up. She comes up empty, so she shifts towards the second one on his side of the bed. “You finally had enough of watching me walk in circles to give me a hint?” 

“For a kids game, you’re not very good at this.”

She ignores him as she opens the second nightstand, finding a bright blue shell inside. She pulls it into her grasp fast, ready to find two first class tickets to Italy inside it, but when she finally cracks it open she finds the last thing she expects to be inside. She pulls the object out with her hands and lets it dangle in between her fingers, the light shining in from the windows reflecting off it perfectly. It’s a necklace, a beautiful white gold chain holding a turquoise blue chrysoprase crystal.

“Oh.”

Liam only asks, “What?”

“You just had this whole Italy theme going, I thought…” she trails off with a shake of her head. She was obviously wrong, a rarity, but…it seems as if he really did surprise her this time. This necklace…was stunning. It was this bright sea foam green color, it had rough edges but still captured her fullest attention. It was one of those pieces that was sure enough to catch anyones attention. “Never mind.”

“You thought you knew what was going on here, didn’t you? You thought you had me all figured out.” Fallon runs her hand over the gem, the piercing blue/green color now the star of the room. “Do you like it?”

“I love it,” she smiles. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Fal,” he smiles. She still finds herself admiring the pendant in her grasp, unable to look away. “That’s one of a kind, you know.”

She looks up at him with soft, curious eyes, the most calm voice escaping her when she speaks. “What do you mean?”

“That crystal was found in Italy,” he explains. “I hand picked it out and had it carved into that shape specifically for you.”

“Liam,” she looks up from the piece of jewelry hanging in-between her fingers to find his eyes. She blinks back the tears that can’t help but form as she’s overwhelmed with emotion from the amount of thought and time he seemed to put into this small piece of jewelry. He could have boughten something from Gucci or Dolce and Gabbana just as easily, but no. He hand picked the stone and the cut and had it specially made for her in a whole different country. She couldn’t help but _not_ get overwhelmed when she thought of all he’d gone through for this. “You got all these Italian themed gifts because you picked out a crystal from Italy and had this necklace specifically made just for me?”

“Well, there _is_ still one more egg left.”

She looks at him with hopeful eyes. “Will you clasp this for me first?”

“Of course,” he says. Liam scoots his body to the end of the bed to reach up to her neck and clasp the two ends of the chain together.

“Thank you,” she mutters. “It’s beautiful.”

And then she’s back on her feet again without even needing Liam to prompt her, looking everywhere for this last egg that’s hidden in her room somewhere. She even looks in her ensuite _and_ in her huge walk-in closet but she just _can’t_ find it, so she walks back towards him ready to announce she’s given up when she sees he’s holding the final purple egg in the palm of his hand.

“You had that the whole time?” Fallon reaches out for it, ripping it from his grasp. “Asshole!”

She cracks the egg open, only to find a piece of paper inside. Its folded in half four ways, a tiny little square resting in the center of the hollowed center. She unfolds it carefully, reading the tiny words on the piece of paper and taking in what’s been up his sleeve the entire time.

“Hotel reservations?” She looks up at him with bright, questioning, surprised eyes. “We’re going to Venice?”

“Why are you acting all surprised now?” He laughs as he reaches out for her hand, which she happily gives him as he pulls her back on to the mattress with him. “You had it all figured out after you opened the first egg!”

“Yeah, but then you gave me this necklace!” She shuffles her body back against the pillows, leaning her body back against his chest as he envelopes her in his arms. "And I thought…maybe he really did fool me.”

“Yeah, I didn’t,” he says, hand running up and down her arm comfortingly. “You’re too smart for me.”

“So, we’re going to Italy? And we’re staying at the,” she stops there, looking at the piece of paper again to make sure she read it correctly. “Gritti Palace?”

“We are,” he confirms. “And we leave in two days.”

“Two days? I don’t have time to pack with that short notice!”

“You’ll be fine, Fallon,” he laughs lightly. 

She curls into him further, pulling her sheets and comforter up over their bodies, happy to sink back into the warm of her bed and him. Her head falls against his chest, sleep still lingering inside her as her eyes start to flutter shut against the comfort he brings her. The patterns he traces against her bare skin lull her further into a sleepy trance, and just as she’s about to give in to unconscious she hears him speak again. 

“So, are you ready for the next egg hunt?”


End file.
